Greg Kraft

Bob Tway, enduring the worst slump of his career, turned to an old favorite for a new beginning. "This is the best round I`ve had in a long, long time. I`m hoping it's the start of something good," Tway said Thursday after a 4-under-par 67 put him in a five-way tie for the first-round lead of the Buick Classic at Westchester Country Club. Tway ranks 176th on the money list. That compares with four victories in 1986, including the PGA at Westchester. Tway shared the top spot with Ted...

Adam Scott picked up five shots in five holes against a faltering Tiger Woods, and then Geoff Ogilvy came to life and regained the lead Saturday before storms suspended play for the day in the CA Championship in Miami. Ogilvy was at 14 under, one shot ahead of Scott, through 11 holes. The Blue Monster has rarely been so gentle, yet Woods was about the only player who couldn't take advantage. He was three behind. Woods missed putts inside 4 feet on the first two holes and quickly fell off the pace.

NASCAR Busch North Series driver Tom Bolles broke his neck in a racing accident at New Hampshire International Speedway. Greg Kraft, nursing supervisor at Concord Hospital, said Bolles fractured the second cervical bone in his spine, but had no apparent paralysis. Kraft said the driver was in stable condition, conscious and breathing without assistance. Bolles, in his ninth year on the Busch tour, was being treated in the intensive-care unit and was undergoing further testing Saturday...

Opening with three straight birdies, Chris DiMarco easily topped his best score on Doral's Blue Monster in Miami with a 7-under-par 65 Thursday to take a one-stroke lead in the first round of the Genuity Championship. Ernie Els and Vijay Singh, both winless on the PGA Tour last year, were a stroke back, along with Steve Allan of Australia and Greg Kraft. The group at 67 included Tiger Woods, playing at Doral for the first time since 1998. Woods is 30th on the money list, not surprising...

Adam Scott picked up five shots in five holes against a faltering Tiger Woods, and then Geoff Ogilvy came to life and regained the lead Saturday before storms suspended play for the day in the CA Championship in Miami. Ogilvy was at 14 under, one shot ahead of Scott, through 11 holes. The Blue Monster has rarely been so gentle, yet Woods was about the only player who couldn't take advantage. He was three behind. Woods missed putts inside 4 feet on the first two holes and quickly fell off the pace.

The Match Play Championship doesn't need Tiger Woods or any of the other absent stars to put on a good show. There was Jean Van de Velde in another collapse like Carnoustie, only this time with a happy ending. There was Dennis Paulson, rolling in a 70-foot birdie putt to seize control of the match, only to watch Craig Parry take it back with a critical putt of his own. Six matches required extra holes at Metropolitan Golf Club, compared with only three matches that went...

The Match Play Championship doesn't need Tiger Woods or any of the other absent stars to put on a good show. There was Jean Van de Velde in another collapse like Carnoustie, only this time with a happy ending. There was Dennis Paulson, rolling in a 70-foot birdie putt to seize control of the match, only to watch Craig Parry take it back with a critical putt of his own. Six matches required extra holes at Metropolitan Golf Club, compared with only three matches that went...

They say the first PGA Tour victory is the hardest. The way he's going, Steve Flesch might one day be the guy credited with originating the saying. Flesch went to bed Saturday night with a share of the 54-hole lead in the Advil Western Open. After a disappointing, maddening and depressing final round of 3-over-par 75 Sunday, he plummeted into a tie for ninth place at 10-under 278. It was Flesch's ninth top-10 finish of the year. Only Tiger Woods, with 11, has more. "I...

Opening with three straight birdies, Chris DiMarco easily topped his best score on Doral's Blue Monster in Miami with a 7-under-par 65 Thursday to take a one-stroke lead in the first round of the Genuity Championship. Ernie Els and Vijay Singh, both winless on the PGA Tour last year, were a stroke back, along with Steve Allan of Australia and Greg Kraft. The group at 67 included Tiger Woods, playing at Doral for the first time since 1998. Woods is 30th on the money list, not surprising...

David Duval is buffed. He is sleek and firm. His percentage of body fat is about the same as his percentage of missed 3-footers, which is to say, not much. Duval looks as if he is ready for a decathlon, not a golf tournament. To some degree, he is. The PGA Tour season is a marathon. Last year Duval won four times in the first quarter of the season. Then he wilted while watching Tiger Woods speed past him. So Duval figured if he was going catch Woods, he had to get stronger.

When the Western Open venue was switched from opulent Butler National to purely public Cog Hill in 1991, there existed a certain amount of fear and trembling on the PGA Tour. The question was not only how to get there-once you reach the Cal-Sag Bridge that shakes over the troubled brown Illinois-Michigan Canal waters and pass that automobile junkyard on the right, you're about a mile from the front gate, and you can miss it. The real problem for pro golfers was, what do we...

Greg Kraft is leading the Doral-Ryder Open by two strokes, which comes as good news to him and Ernie Els. Kraft, who has never won an official event on the PGA Tour and hasn't taken a lead into the final round in three years, figured he needed the biggest cushion he could get with 18 holes left on the Blue Monster in Miami. Els was just thrilled it wasn't bigger. "Eleven under is leading?" the two-time U.S. Open champion asked Saturday after 30 minutes...

David Duval is buffed. He is sleek and firm. His percentage of body fat is about the same as his percentage of missed 3-footers, which is to say, not much. Duval looks as if he is ready for a decathlon, not a golf tournament. To some degree, he is. The PGA Tour season is a marathon. Last year Duval won four times in the first quarter of the season. Then he wilted while watching Tiger Woods speed past him. So Duval figured if he was going catch Woods, he had to get stronger.

NASCAR Busch North Series driver Tom Bolles broke his neck in a racing accident at New Hampshire International Speedway. Greg Kraft, nursing supervisor at Concord Hospital, said Bolles fractured the second cervical bone in his spine, but had no apparent paralysis. Kraft said the driver was in stable condition, conscious and breathing without assistance. Bolles, in his ninth year on the Busch tour, was being treated in the intensive-care unit and was undergoing further testing Saturday...

Jeff Sluman was cookin' on some home cookin'. Not to mention the cheers and hopes of 25-30 friends outside the ropes, who were hanging on every shot. His game and the vibrations were good. "I get anxious when I get in this position and I'm not playing well," Sluman had said Saturday. But Sluman was playing well. Very well. The 1988 PGA champion, who moved with wife Linda into a new home in Hinsdale this year, had put together rounds of 68, 69, and 69 and was at 206, one shot out of the lead...

They came out in the searing heat to see him. It was breakfast with Tiger Woods, who had an 8:06 a.m. tee time. But there was a problem: Woods didn't show up. At least not the golfer who had them rocking in the 18th fairway last year. This year, any fan who wants to see Woods play in the Motorola Western Open better make it out to Cog Hill on Friday. After what he did Thursday, this could be a two-day booking in Chicago for Woods. The defending champion blew up to a 76 in the first...

He's back, and they're so glad. "In the can, Freeee-deeeee!" a man shouted after Fred Couples had barely managed to touch his putt. "Oh, no, not there, he's blocking my view," a woman whispered as she sought a glance of the people's choice at a crowded green at Cog Hill in the Western Open. A marshal had moved in front of the tanned Couples as he lined up to hit a putt. Couples looked like his usual laconic, oblivious self through it all, as though absolutely nothing had...

The only thing better than having Nick Price win your tournament once is having him win it twice. He goes for a three-peat in the Western Open next year. If Motorola, the new sponsor, isn't delighted, its phone is off the hook. Price represents all that's good about golf, and more, though he's taken enough cash out of Chicago lately to balance the city budget. But Price is a credit to the game even when he debits your account by $216,000, as he proved late Sunday after...

Greg Kraft has a chance to be the big cheese of the Motorola Western Open. Kraft leads the 91st Open after 54 holes. The 30-year-old third-year pro shot a 4-under-par 68 at Cog Hill's Dubsdread Saturday to finish at 11-under-par 205, a shot ahead of defending champion Nick Price and Hinsdale resident Jeff Sluman. Considering his play this year, Kraft hardly seemed a candidate to be in the last group on Sunday. After winning nearly $300,000 and finishing 60th on the money list last year,...

Jeff Sluman was cookin' on some home cookin'. Not to mention the cheers and hopes of 25-30 friends outside the ropes, who were hanging on every shot. His game and the vibrations were good. "I get anxious when I get in this position and I'm not playing well," Sluman had said Saturday. But Sluman was playing well. Very well. The 1988 PGA champion, who moved with wife Linda into a new home in Hinsdale this year, had put together rounds of 68, 69, and 69 and was at 206, one shot out of the lead...